Priyansh Arya, Tejasvi Dahiya shine as Delhi beat Saurashtra in Vijay Hazare Trophy

Delhi defeated Saurashtra by three wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group D match at Alur. Priyansh Arya and Tejasvi Dahiya struck fifties, while Navdeep Saini contributed with bat and ball. Delhi now lead Group D with 12 points

Bengaluru: Opener Priyansh Arya and Tejasvi Dahiya struck aggressive fifties as Delhi overcame skipper Rishabh Pant’s ordinary outing to beat Saurashtra by three wickets in a Group D match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at Alur 2 Grounds here on Monday.

Chasing 321, Arya (78, 45 balls) and Tejasvi (53, 51 balls) did the heavy lifting for a Virat Kohli-less Delhi as they romped home in 48.5 overs, losing seven wickets.

Saurashtra made a challenging 320 for seven in 50 overs, courtesy of a 115 (104 balls) by opener Vishvarajsinh Jadeja and an unbeaten 95 off 65 balls by Ruchit Ahir.

Kohli had played a stellar role in Delhi’s first two wins, scoring a century and a fifty. The star batter is set to rejoin the team on January 6 for the match against Railways at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.

Pant could not make a heavy contribution, getting out for a 26-ball 22, caught by Jay Gohil off Chirag Jani.

But his teammates more than made up for Pant’s lapse and Kohli’s absence. Arya was involved in a 66-run stand for the second wicket with Ayush Doseja before falling to Chetan Sakarya.

Delhi was 115 for two in 13.2 overs and, despite losing wickets at regular intervals, they did not allow the asking rate to spiral out of control.

Tejasvi was involved in two crucial partnerships after Delhi found themselves at 160 for four — 48 for the fifth wicket with Pant and 40 for the next wicket with Harsh Tyagi.

When Tejasvi was dismissed by Ankur Pawar, Delhi still needed 73 runs in 12 overs with four wickets in hand.

But Tyagi (49, 45 balls) and Navdeep Saini (34 not out) knocked off those runs during their seventh-wicket alliance to give Delhi valuable four points. They now lead Group D with 12 points from three games.

Earlier, Jadeja led Saurashtra’s charge with two substantial partnerships — 79 for the second wicket with Gajjar Sammar (41), and 80 for the sixth wicket with Ahir.

For Delhi, pacer Saini also shone with the ball, taking three wickets for 41 runs off his 10 overs.

Brief Scores:
Saurashtra 320/7 in 50 overs (Vishvarajsinh Jadeja 115, Ruchit Ahir 95 no; Navdeep Saini 3/41) lost to Delhi 321/7 in 48.5 overs (Priyansh Arya 78, Tejasvi Dahiya 53, Harsh Tyagi 49, Navdeep Saini 34 no; Chirag Jani 2/51) by three wickets.

Andhra 221 all out in 49.2 overs (SDNV Prasad 66, Saurabh Kumar 47; Biplab Samantray 3/36, Govinda Poddar 3/36) lost to Odisha 223/4 in 43.4 overs (Govinda Poddar 89, Om T Munda 91; Satyanarayana Raju 2/49) by six wickets.

Railways 365/7 in 50 overs (Pratham Singh 73, Ravi Singh 88, Ashutosh Sharma 50, Zubair Ali 48 no; Pulkit Narang 2/43) beat Services 281 all out in 47.2 overs (Sagar Dahiya 95, Ravi Chauhan 73; Raj Choudhary 3/27, Zubair Ali 2/46) by 84 runs.

Haryana 299 all out in 50 overs (Mayank Shandilya 86, HJ Rana 57, Samant Jakhar 49; Arzan Nagawaswalla 3/69, Harshal Patel 3/69) beat Gujarat 273 all out in 47.1 overs (Jaymeet Patel 67, Vishal Jayswal 51, Ravi Bishnoi 40; Anshul Kamboj 3/49) by 26 runs.